Recent items in the news: The commandant of the marine corps said a few days ago U.S. forces will likely be at the “war on terror,” or whatever it’s called now, for a bit longer, maybe another decade. Or more. The marine leader’s remarks echo those by an obscure defense official overseeing undercover doo doo. [...]

Prostitution in the old Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628-92), which then ran north into southern Maine and included the seaside town of Kennebunk (“So Close, Yet Worlds Away”), was a hanging offense. Times have changed however. And so on Friday a state judge in Portland accepted a plea deal from alleged Zumba dance madam Alexis Wright [...]

“Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It’s time to start thinking.” – Ernest Rutherford, British explorer – quoted sometime after 1910 Political analysts unaffiliated with The Onion suggested Monday that Silvio Berlusconi and upstart challenger Beppe Grillo may have enough votes between them to form a new, coalition government in Italy. If this [...]

They’re everywhere – these little men. No tendentious description of the phenomenon is required, nor is a detailed and boring historical context necessary, since they (like the poor) “have always been with us.” But the sudden “surge” of poseurs, fakers, demagogues, deadbeats, and crooks stands out right now, as our vaunted world economy teeter-totters, [...]

CHNN’s managing editor has been clamoring, seemingly for weeks on end, for something – anything!!! – on Silvio Berlusconi, the 21st century’s first world-class, hair-plugged, near octogenarian diva, major domo buffo – and now! - criminal defendant, with a prostitution charge stuffed inside a grab bag of official abuse allegations in his capacity as Italian [...]

Ever since this song came out in 1996, it’s always found its way onto my winter playlist because, cockeyed optimist that I am, I always believe that “this year will be better than the last,” and with that and the right amount of alcohol, I find this somewhat mournful song cheery. Some background… In December [...]

As a kid growing up in the 1960′s and 70′s, I really believed that America was rapidly becoming a better place, and the future looked bright. In first grade and kindergarten, I attended a school in a nearby “ghetto” neighborhood, where the “War on Poverty” lured privileged white kids like myself by offering gym classes, [...]

The following towering pile of horseshit was written by Fox News Democrats Patrick Caddell and Douglas Schoen, and appeared in the WaPoo, under the Fair and Balanced headline, “Our Divisive President, Redux.” (h/t Media Matters.): President Obama’s post-partisan America has disappeared, replaced by the politics of polarization, resentment and division. Genius observation…. any clue as [...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeXrMRf25U8 It makes no difference what anyone says about flying these days because you just have to suck up all the airport rules, or don’t fly. Tell me about it. Having flown last week-end, just before the little terrorist wannabe tried to detonate something between his legs on a flight into Detroit on Christmas Day, [...]